Slow Down a Little

Yin Qi rested her head on the desk, lazily murmuring in a soft voice, again and again,

"Shi Jun, Shi Jun, I like you so much."

The boy lazily ruffled her hair. "I like you too."

When she was in her first year of high school, she saw Shi Jun for the first time. She felt like a weed in the corner, glimpsing the light of the boy.

She thought they would never cross paths.

He was the one who approached her first.

"Tongtong, let's slow down."

"Why?"

"He's behind us."

No one knew that the iceberg in her heart was melting.

They got together in their second year of high school, much to everyone's envy.

For a while, she almost thought he was the one.

He told her, "When we graduate, we'll get married."

Only the person who heard a promise remembers it. He really had just been joking.

"Let's break up. The thing is, I really like you, but I'm also really hurting." Yin Qi didn't cry that day.

"I'm sorry."

She cried in her dreams. Sobbing, she told him, "You can turn your feelings on and off so easily. I'm so jealous."

"I'm sorry."

The wind rose in her heart again, but she couldn't catch it.

In her second year of college, she thought the world was huge. If they didn't deliberately meet, then surely they would never see each other again.

But then she saw the boy hiding in a corner, smoking.

His pride lay shattered on the ground, and no one picked it up.

"Yin Qi, I really did love you." He lowered his head. This time, he was the one who felt inferior.

"It's been five years. I should be over it by now," she said mockingly.

"Qiqi, I'm sorry for what I did. Is there still a chance for us?" A glimmer of light flashed in his eyes.

"Please, just let me go. I'll erase those promises for you." She looked at him with disgust.

Shi Jun suddenly froze. He remembered how, a long time ago, she had asked him timidly, "Will you leave me?"

She cried as she turned away.

She murmured, "I lied. I'm not over it."

That day, her moon fell into the valley, but for a moment, its light did fall upon her.

At seventeen, Yin Qi thought that if only she were a little prettier, perhaps her gaze wouldn't falter when she looked at him.

At twenty-two, Yin Qi thought that if only she were a little more ordinary, perhaps it wouldn't hurt so much.

Theme: Unrequited love, a love that still lingers painfully